Avalon: losing reality = losing the game

            Avalon juxtaposes that which we are to assume is the rather dull “real” world with the high-action, illegal simulation that is Avalon. The game world, rich with adventure has an excitement that the outside world lacks; Ash’s repetitive, monotonous train rides home & the generally slow pace of life in the non-virtual world serve as devices to paint Ash’s ‘reality’ as lackluster, and give the audience an idea as to why this game is so enticing—it scratches an itch that the real world cannot. Upon having a taste, the players want more. But as we see by scores of players left catatonic, there is more than one way to “get lost” in this parallel reality.

            When Ash makes it to Club Real, she enters her biggest challenge: deciphering the game from reality. She’s given a pistol, and told to seek out and kill an illegal player, her former teammate Murphy. But I personally interpreted this challenge as something far greater than eliminating another player. Club Real didn’t test Ash’s skills as a player, but rather, her ability to distinguish reality from a falsely constructed world. Murphy never reached Avalon because he was fooled by the game, and lost sight of reality. The best explanation I could see for the game was that the individuals who completely lost sight of reality are those who went catatonic, and the only way to truly win, was to beat the game without losing grip on reality. But just like reality itself, this movie is open to a thousand interpretations and in the end, we’ll never know just what is real and what is simulated.
            Lastly, I may be the only one, but I thought this movie was freaking awesome.